1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system that is operable to pick individual pieces of particulate matter from a bin, weigh those individual pieces, and then sort the weighed individual pieces for further processing.
2. Description of Related Art
There exist a number of industrial applications where it becomes important for weight information to be collected with respect to individual pieces of particulate matter. In this context, “particulate matter” refers to objects having a uniform or non-uniform size and shape that generally possess a granular, pelletal or pill-like character having an average volume of between 5 and 500 cubic millimeters and/or an average weight of between 0.001 and 10 grams.
As a specific example, in the agricultural industry, and more specifically in the seed breeding industry, it is important for scientists to accurately know the weight of individual seeds (i.e., the species of “particulate matter” of interest). This information, in conjunction with other pieces of analytic data (such as trait data, molecular data, magnetic resonance data, color data, size data, shape data, and the like), assists the scientist/breeder in selectively choosing certain seeds (and families of seeds) for further breeding and/or analysis.
As another example, in the pharmaceutical industry, it may be important to deliver known quantities with certain weight characteristics to a certain process. In this way, the scientist/formulator can precisely control the amount of a certain component that is contributed in producing a given product. The same holds true in the chemical industry where the constituent parts of a chemical composition must be known and accurately delivered by weight.
The generally small size of individual pieces of particulate matter makes them quite difficult and inconvenient for human manipulation. For example, it is quite difficult for many humans to accurately select, grasp and handle a single piece of particulate matter (like a seed or pill or grain or particle) from a bin containing hundreds or thousands of other pieces for placement on, and removal from, a weighing scale. Picking, selecting and working with these individual pieces becomes a very tedious task that provides little job satisfaction. Although humans can and are often employed to perform the job, the foregoing and other factors (including, for example, exorbitant labor costs, concerns with employee turnover, and human errors) are driving a move towards increased, if not complete, automation of the handling process.
There is accordingly a need in the art for an automated solution to the problem of handling particulate matter in a number of contexts including, individually and collectively, operations for: selecting individual pieces from a storage bin; weighing individual pieces; and sorting individual pieces.